WOOHOOO REI dividend is here!

[DrBadger]

Guess what was waiting patiently for me when I got home tonight.... that wonderful slip of paper from REI telling me I had lots of new $$ to spend there :-) Free $$ too (at least I like to think so ) And it was even bigger than I thought....I forgot about the full price items I had bought.... most of it is from my REI Visa card (I love that thing).

Now.... how to spend it best :-) I think that a new smartwool t-shirt is in my future, some new low top hikers, and maybe a new pair of bike shoes (I want to get some mountain shoes). I will probably use the 20% coupon on one of the pairs of shoes.

hmmmm.... off to shop

[snapdragen]

Oh goodie! Mine should be arriving soon then!

Love the REI Visa!

[jobob]

happy happy joy joy !

[HillSlugger]

I racked up a whole $3.51 Hopefully I'll do better on my tax returns.

[SouthernBelle]

On the REI Visa, I know it can be used like a regular Visa, but you get dividends on that??

[DebW]

On the REI Visa, I know it can be used like a regular Visa, but you get dividends on that??

Using the REI Visa, you get the full dividend on REI purchases, plus a small percentage (~0.5%) dividend on everything you buy with that Visa card.

[Pedal Wench]

I use my REI Visa card for everything - groceries, gas, pay bills, etc. I thought it was a 1% rebate. It adds up nicely!

[DrBadger]

yup, 1% back on (almost) all purchases on the REI visa card, and there is no annual fee (unlike many reward cards). In addition it has really good travel protection and rental car insurance. Even covers rental car insurance in Mexico, which a lot of cards don't do.

I use it for everything, just pay it off each month. This summer I was in Houston doing an internship, and I was even able to put my rent on it! I now have almost $200 in REI dividend to spend $175 of that is from the REI visa.

[Blueberry]

It's 1% on everything except for cash advances and balance transfers.

US Bank isn't hyper on fraud protection, either. I was using an LLBean card, and every time I would travel they would cut off my card (at least since Bank of America took over from MBNA). I gave them my cell number so they could call to verify, but since they couldn't use it for telemarketing, they wouldn't call it for fraud alerts either. It didn't take many times of being stranded for me to stop using that one all the time.

Plus, I should be getting a good dividend next year

[emily_in_nc]

US Bank isn't hyper on fraud protection, either. I was using an LLBean card, and every time I would travel they would cut off my card (at least since Bank of America took over from MBNA). I gave them my cell number so they could call to verify, but since they couldn't use it for telemarketing, they wouldn't call it for fraud alerts either. It didn't take many times of being stranded for me to stop using that one all the time.

Interesting, CA. I have an LL Bean Visa also and have don't recall them ever cutting off my card when traveling. Of course, we charge everything (gas, groceries, etc.) on the card, so they are used to us having large bills, so maybe the travel expenses haven't raised any flags. I guess it's based on usual spending patterns?? I've not used my REI Visa when traveling, but it's my backup card for all purchases (and used for all REI purchases, of course!) Since I use it a lot less, I suspect I'd be more likely to get flagged when traveling if I used it, since those larger expenses would look unusual for me.

Yay on the REI dividend, and the 20% off coupon that came with it! Course, I have to split mine with DH, but it's still nice.

Emily

[Veronica]

I want mine to come!

We have a whole list of stuff to buy for camping this summer.

V.

[Blueberry]

Interesting, CA. I have an LL Bean Visa also and have don't recall them ever cutting off my card when traveling. Of course, we charge everything (gas, groceries, etc.) on the card, so they are used to us having large bills, so maybe the travel expenses haven't raised any flags. I guess it's based on usual spending patterns?? I've not used my REI Visa when traveling, but it's my backup card for all purchases (and used for all REI purchases, of course!) Since I use it a lot less, I suspect I'd be more likely to get flagged when traveling if I used it, since those larger expenses would look unusual for me.

Yay on the REI dividend, and the 20% off coupon that came with it! Course, I have to split mine with DH, but it's still nice.

Emily

We used ours for everything too. So, we had massive bills. However, we went to DC around the holidays, and they cut it off (no warning). They did it again when I went to buy lunch at an out of town CLE. Odd.....

What's kinda scary is that US Bank (REI) didn't call when we went from no spending to putting all of the expenses on that card.

The 20% coupon and my dividend came today! Yay!!!

[7rider]

I racked up a whole $3.51 Hopefully I'll do better on my tax returns.

I haven't seen mine yet!
But that's generally in the range of where I come in - sub $10.
Too much shopping on the sales rack!

[snapdragen]

I got mine! I can buy the Sidi's !!!!!!!!!!

[Haudlady]

Hmmm. I'm not trying to throw a wet blanket on this (really!), but I have a question. I've been told by my credit card company (a regular cash-back dividend program, not related to REI) that my cash-back is taxable income and being reported to the IRS as such! I wonder if the REI is the same way?

Does anyone know if this is true? It's not much, but I don't want to claim it as income if it doesn't have to be... and I want to claim it if it should be!